Town of Portage - 1827

Livingston County, New York

PORTAGE---was formed
from Nunda, March 8, 1827. It is the S.W. corner town
of the co., Its surface is hilly, the highest point,
near Portageville, being about 200 feet higher than
the R.R. The Genesee River forms the W. boundary of
the town. Its banks are steep and rocky, 100 to 200
ft. high and in many places perpendicular, Coshaqua
Creek flows through the E. part. The soil in the E.
part is clay loam, and in the W. a sandy loam. Oakland,
(p.v.) in the N.E. part, contains2 churches, a grist
and saw mill, woolen factory, tannery, furnace, and
35 houses; Hunts Hollow (p.v.) 2 churches, a
tannery, and 31 houses. Portage Station, on
the B. & N.Y.C.R.R., is on the line of Wyoming
co. Settlement was commenced by Jacob Shaver, on Lot
150, in 1810. The first church
(Presb.) was formed at Hunts Hollow, about 1820.

FOOTNOTES

[PORTAGE] Name derived from the portage or
carrying place around the falls of the Genesee River.
(back)

[in 1810.] Ephraim Kingsley and Seth
Sherwood settled oon Lot 169 in 1811; Joseph Dixon,
above Portageville. Col. Geo. Williams, Russell
Messenger, and Sanford Hunt all settled about 1814.
Horace Miller taught the first school, in 1817, The
first inn was kept by Prosper Adams, in 1817; and the
first store, at Hunts Hollow, by Sanford Hunt, in
1818. Russell Messenger built the first sawmill, in
1816, and the first gristmill, in 1817 (back)